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bkready

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Exchange 2010 server 100% CPU - no specific process

We have a Server 2008 R2 Sp1 Hyper-V virtual machine: 4 vCPU's, 16 GB RAM.  Exchange Server 2010 Version: 14.03.0123.003  (SP3).  Single Exchange server running all roles except UM.  It is also running GFI MailEssentials for SPAM control.  The server is pegged at 100% CPU by various processes.  It is not a single process causing the server to become terribly slow.  Mostly it's GFI processes, Store.exe, W3wp.exe,   Activesync users are reporting slowness and it's taking 30+ minutes to receive local or internet emails.

I've beaten my head against this.  We've disabled GFI MailEssentials by pulling the transport rules out of Exchange (they have a utility to do this).  No change.  We've disabled the GFI service and that does provide a small amount of relief, but the server still spikes to 100% enough to cause delays in mail flow.   We loaded Exmon and did find that one user was almost always at the top of the list of Store.exe CPU utilization.  We had that user remove the Activesync account from the phone and close the mailbox from Outlook 2013.  No changes to CPU utilization.  I'd like to add that now EXmon will not run, but crashes.....

Even at this point with GFI services disabled, the server is extremely difficult to work on and takes forever to get anywhere to do anything.  We really need some help in narrowing down where this issue lies.  Also, keeping GFI disabled permanently is really not an option. They receive a significant amount of junk mail and they're practically crippled if that all makes it to the inbox.

One strange item I should mention is that the admin mailbox is receiving notification of messages blocked in GFI that have the SPAM tab appended in the subject line numerous times.  I'm wondering if this is indicating some sort of email loop.  

Help please!
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Will Szymkowski
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Does the server act the same way after a reboot? If so, how long does it take before the server is crippled again? Have you checked the logs on the server to see if they are showing any additional info?

Will.
Do you have hyper threading enabled? If yes, disable it first. Is this a VM or Physical box. Check the CPU guideline
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-in/library/dd346699(v=exchg.141).aspx

What about AV, did you  excluded all Exchange binaries and folder from AV scanning, if not do it.

If it is a VM, make sure all VM patches are up to date.
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bkready

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The server returns to this state very shortly after rebooting it.  

HyperThreading would be set to whatever the default would have been. The Procs are dual Intel® Xeon E5-2440's.

There is currently no AV installed on this box.

It is a VM. We can't really associate any changes to the start of this situation.
Which process is consuming max CPU? IOS is know to cause such spikes. Make sure your user devices are upto date.
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bkready

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Great you found the cause and solution. However, I personally avoid installing anything on Exchange server. For other 3rd party tool, it is good to setup new servers and pass the traffic to Exchange server. This way you avoid creating issues on your Exchange servers and troubleshooting is also easy.
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Between our own troubleshooting and contacting vendor support for a product directly, we were able to resolve the issues ourselves.